Devon musicians are going to submit a song to the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, to campaign against the relocating of Darlington College of Arts. Rules on who can enter the contest had not been decided and will be announced next week by the British Broadcaster
Leading artists in United Kingdom have joined a campaign against a world-renowned Devon college being forced to relocate. Owners of Dartington College of Arts near Totnes stated that the establishment must move because they cannot afford a £20m repair bill and consider the move in Cornwall as the best solution.
The relocation, which has been discussed with the Higher Education Funding Council for England, probably will have to take place by 2009 at the earliest. Dartington College of Arts is part of the Dartington Estate which was bought in 1925 by Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst as a centre for an experiment in rural regeneration. Dartington is recognised internationally as a premier institute for contemporary performing arts and has 680 students. The estate is also home to arts centres, a summer arts festival and the Schumacher College which teaches ecology, spirituality and the arts.
Most of the 10-piece group, Goth Opera, are former students of Dartington College of Arts and are opposed to its move from a Devon country estate. Goth Opera frontwoman Kathy Karpilov, a student at the college 15 years ago, said: "We believe that Dartington represents the finest music and art in Devon and the country, if not the whole of Europe. Ms Karpilov said their contemporary opera group wanted to enter a "song of hope" in the Eurovision contest once entry requirements were made public next week. "The song says that nothing is impossible if you believe in the power of hope and love. We think that it is a loss of hope that has led to the prospective move at Dartington College."
Since we don't know yet the rules of participation as the British Broadcasting Corporation will announce them next week and we can't know if such an entry will be part of the British national selection. For sure artists gained the public attention
